Faith in Parrot Conservation

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole.."

- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

On my final night in Paraguay at the end of August 2025, I was asked if I believed parrot conservation would succeed over the long term, and if I had hope. I said no. But I do have faith in parrot conservation.

Just because hope is problematic in conservation, this doesn't keep us from doing all we can to work towards transformation and for saving lives, now, while we can. While in Paraguay in August 2025 we started a National Chapter of the Parrot Conservation Corps in Paraguay at the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences at the National University in Concepción. We work for a better future, even if we can't foresee what that looks like or if it will happen.

This discussion begins by examining my reasons why I believe that hope is not regarded as a significant factor in conservation dynamics. It is because after 40 years in front-line parrot conservation I have seen so much death and suffering of individual parrots and people, and of parrot populations and ecosystems. I have not been able to curb this destruction nor have our projects. 

We have seen so much loss in Paraguay, but we keep trying. At this recent training of park guards in Paraguay (lead by One Earth Conservation along with World Wildlife Fund and ACPP) we heard their reports of having few macaws in their parks. Even so, this news did not keep us from coming together to learn to save what we could, and make promises to help one another to do so by wearing our "Fly Free" wrist bands in the colors of the endangered hyacinth and red-and-green macaws.

We currently save lives and have stopped poaching in some areas, but there are no guarantees for the future. If we could have continued expansive funding, we could continue to decrease poaching and assist communities with protecting their wildlife and growing their ability to provide for their families through practices that support the entire biotic community. This funding is not available, and even if it were, it would be a huge challenge to “buy” our way into the transformation needed in human societies and relationships to safeguard the future of an earth where all beings can flourish. Therefore, I am uncertain that particular outcomes will be realized or that significant losses can be prevented.  

Maybe we cannot "buy transformation" but we can make it happen. To find out more about this, and join with others, register for our series of Transformative Parrot Conservations starting on September 26th.

This, however, does not keep me from taking risks and striving to do all I can to save and cherish this world. Faith keeps me going.

What is more beautiful than this, and more worth cherishing and saving?

This is not the faith exhorted explicitly in any one religion but faith in the underlying beauty and goodness of this world, and the inherent worth and dignity of every being. I have faith that I can save lives now, and with others, I can have a positive impact on the health of this earth. I just do not know what these outcomes look like – I cannot predict them nor control them. I do know that living with the reality of the beauty and tragedy of this world produces an orientation within me to embrace all that is. I have faith that an aching heart along with the steady presence of wonder results in an embodied service to those whom I love.

Our patches and stickers that support "Unconditional Solidarity" and our wrist-bands that say "Fly Free Parrot" in local languages with the colors of their endangered parrots.

This service has been fumbling and bumbling at times, and yet I am grateful to walk the way of forgiveness in unconditional solidarity with others who too find themselves bound by human nature. Together we are liberated by our service to achieve freedom so that parrots and humans alike may fly free and flourish.